It can be cut/moved and reframed. Our builder had to do just that to vent our OTR microwave to the outside. Whether you go with an OTR or a conventional hood, you want to vent it outside if there is any way to do so.

We had a similar issue; a joist smack dab in the middle of where the range was going. We used a hood liner inside of a hood enclosure that allowed enough vertical space to get an elbow in there to clear the joist with the 10" pipe.

With a duct going thru the cabinet above the hood or OTR, you won't be able to store much in it, fyi

"What if a stud is in the way?"

#%@$ him for all he's worth, then have yourself a nice glass of wine! ;-)

Our contractor put a couple of bends in our duct to get around a ceiling joist or something. People have since told me that if we need to shift the range down when/if we reconfigure the kitchen, the duct can still exit out the same hole. Maybe that would work for you? Ours is inside a cabinet and we still have room to store quite a lot up there, not as much as before the duct of course but it was a very good trade-off to have real venting. We've got about 5 cereal boxes up there, plus all our rice and pasta and popcorn and granola bars and dried fruit and... well, you get the drift. I am not sure if this is the same as your problem but perhaps it will help. By the way, a vented hood gets the steam out of your face, not to mention removing the smell of boiled-over butterbeans (not that you would ever boil over your butterbeans), so don't discount it just because you won't be sauteeing meat.

The joists in my ceiling ran crossways, and the garage had a chimney and other stuff in the way, so my GC had to go down to get outside. But a stud was right where the vent needed to go. So first he went sideways - an elbow, as others have - to between 2 studs, then down, because he couldn't go up, across the ceiling of the basement, and out. I lose some cab space, but I still have some. It's kind of hard to reach, anyway, so it's best for things you don't use much, anyway.

You will be happy to have a hood.

GInny20, Im so glad you posted this, becaus ewe have a similar problem, The joists run crossways, and my gc told me that I need to move the range to an outside wall. I never considered running the duct down through the basement. What kind of hood do you have? I didnt realize that the duct could make an immediate downturn like that. Did you get an extra powerful hood to take into account all the turns? I think it might double the duct length, having to go that far down, but it might be an option we should consider if I cant come up with another layout that I like with the range on the outside wall.

If you are willing to do a little re-rocking then you can rip off the sheetrock, brace the wall, cut the joists and frame it like a window. You then would have a perfect (structurally sound) space to run your vent right out behind the stove. This is what I am now telling myself after I have been futzing around for days trying to fit between my ducting between studs. If only I made up my mind sooner... oh well.

I had a similar issue as well. The GC put elbows in to minimize cab space loss. It would have been way too much $ to relocate the weight bearing beam issue. There is a wee bit of cab loss, but the money saved... Here's a pic if it helps you.

Sorry, designnov, my cabs got installed today, and I've been distracted. We didn't discover the problem until demo, and by then there was no way to put the cooktop on the outside wall. I had ordered a Kobe undercabinet hood, 720CFM (effectively) at high speed. It will be pretty powerful, so I'm hoping it will work despite the long trip. Apparently, the duct can go up, down, sideways, whatever. They try to minimize the distance and the turns, of course, since both of those reduce the flow. But you do what you have to, and this is what we had to do. My GC put in a 10x3 duct, and it's tucked so well into the basement ceiling that we didn't notice it until we looked for it. I think it will be fine. I'm cooking on induction, not gas.
Hope it works out for you!

thanks so much for this info - Im going to ask my contractor tomorrow. I really dont want to rework my whole layout. What exactly is a 10x3 duct? How wide is it?

Here are some images that might help. I am better with
pictures than words.
Kind of like talking with my hands.
: )
~boxerpups

I know this image below is not helpful but there are others
on GW who might be trying to figure out how to hide
some duct work and I thought I would toss in this
clever solution.

thank you very much for these. Im thinking that we might have to go with a hidden soffit..still hopign to have cabinets to the ceiling, but the tops of the cabinets wont be usable due to the ducting. Doesnt sound great, but I dont think I'll loose too much storage - one of the cabinets will be a corner cabinet and they are pretty cavernous.

"What if a stud is in the way?"
#%@$ him for all he's worth, then have yourself a nice glass of wine! ;-)

Not sure which is funnier -- this comment, or the fact that nobody on GW knew what to do with it!

Score one for mercymygift!

Actually NYSteve, I noticed it and was LMAO! I only wish I could get a great stud to be in my way, during my kitchen remodel....I've got plenty of wine to go with!

Joists run through the ceiling/floor. (One man's ceiling is another man's floor).

Studs run vertically through a wall. A Stud in a wall (supporting or otherwise) can be cut and 'boxed'. Think of an ':' turning into a line with a box in the middle.

I saw this done on This Old House when they installed a new microwave hood on an outside wall.

designnov - The duct is 10" wide by 3". This is a nice big duct. It goes down about 8' and then across the basement ceiling about 8', then out. The duct we found when we demo'd was also 10 x 3, and it ran around a soffit they built all around the kitchen (since when they remodeled in 1961 they must have found they couldn't go through the joists, either). They installed my Kobe hood today.It's pretty quiet, even on high speed, and it pulls air just fine. So if you get a hood of, say, 800 CFM, you should be able to go all around and through the basement. You just need a creative GC.